Ch.157Uninvited Guest (1)

“Ship No. 98 collision successful.”

“Tsk, must be extremely tough. It’s not exploding immediately.”

“Estimated durability is almost identical to X10 class.”

“So it’s at the level of a medium-sized destroyer. I have no idea where such a monster came from, but…”

Acting Fleet Commander Sanadaev of the Nemea Fleet was monitoring the battle situation through external cameras.

As he ordered, Ship No. 98 had successfully rammed the unidentified bio-ship.

“Where is that bastard McKay?”

“Signal chip detected inside the bio-ship.”

“I’d like to capture and torture him, but orders are orders.”

According to the Machine Committee, that bio-ship was an extremely dangerous entity that should not be approached. Sanadaev had tried to subdue it with long-range attacks because of that warning, but it wasn’t easy.

At first, he thought four ships would be enough, but they were all quickly sunk. Whoever was piloting that massive escort ship was handling it like a fighter craft. In all his battles against countless enemies, he’d rarely seen anyone dodge torpedoes so well.

The enemy had taken out the pursuing cyborgs one after another, and seemed to be taunting him by lingering within sight of the flagship.

So he sent ten ships after it. Apparently, even the enemy couldn’t handle ten ships and didn’t last long.

‘If you had run away, you could have lived longer. Foolish one.’

He could see the damaged enemy at the upper right edge of his view.

The front section of Ship No. 98 had penetrated so deeply that it was no longer visible, so the enemy would have difficulty moving now. If it were an actual ship, this attack would have ended its life, and if it were a living organism, it would be a fatal wound beyond recovery.

Whatever it was, death was all that remained for it.

“Just to be safe, finish it with torpedoes and then the remaining traces…”

“Psychic Cannon activation detected from the Imperial Mothership.”

“Damn it! Ships 1 through 12, execute bypass maneuver. Ships 70 through 80, defend with APD.”

“Confirmed.”

“Ship 98, handle yourself and record everything. I’ll report to the Machine Committee, so make the records as detailed as possible.”

“Orders issued.”

He wanted to see that damned bio-ship explode, but they were in the middle of battle.

Sanadaev continued commanding with a sense of regret.

—

“Ship’s front section 20% damaged.”

“Damn! 20% damaged? If we retreat, they’ll fire torpedoes immediately.”

“Not possible due to severe cannon damage.”

Captain Kainzku of Ship No. 98 checked the hull status.

A 3D model of the ship appeared over his eyes, connected to the ship’s computer. As No. 98 reported, many of the cannons located at the front were damaged.

All damage had occurred from the recent collision.

“We definitely had APD support, so why is it like this?”

“The ship has no shields, reducing APD effectiveness. Hull durability is estimated to be equivalent to X10 class.”

“Damn, that explains it. Contact the other ships and tell them to fire as soon as we pull out.”

“Confirmed.”

“Activate undamaged front rockets and side rockets. And as soon as we pull out, send drones and the tech team.”

“Orders confirmed. Front thrusters and port/starboard side thrusters activated.”

As Kainzku ordered, No. 98 immediately activated its rockets. As the hull moved, gravity shifted inside, causing the internal facilities to vibrate slightly.

Just minutes after the collision, as they were trying to quickly pull away, suddenly a much stronger vibration was felt.

“Impact detected from outside the hull.”

“What’s suddenly…”

“Emergency report! High energy flow detected ahead! Suspected reactor overload!”

“What? Damn! Double the output of the side rockets!”

Before he finished speaking, a pressure far stronger than before hit Kainzku. Metal tearing sounds came from the hull’s inner walls, and in some areas, gravity seemed to malfunction as objects stuck to the ceiling or floated in the air.

“As soon as we pull out, retreat straight back!”

“Confirmed.”

Along with Ship No. 98, other ships also distanced themselves from the bio-ship. The external cameras showed the bio-ship. Its black outer wall was cracking like an egg breaking, with purple light pouring out from inside.

“I’ve got a good idea! Have the remaining drones push that ship toward the Cult!”

Another cyborg connected to Kainzku’s communications deployed drones. Construction drones meant for repairs quickly flew over and pushed the bio-ship.

The Cult members seemed to notice something was wrong with the bio-ship that resembled their own vessels and began to retreat.

“Too slow!”

Soon after, an intense purple flash blazed. Two nearby Cult ships were caught in the explosion and triggered a chain reaction.

“That’s the end of it. No. 98, did you record everything?”

“Recording complete.”

“Record the internal damage too and send it to the Acting Fleet Commander on the flagship.”

“Recommend retreating to preserve evidence.”

“Hmm, I don’t really want to retreat so obviously. How are the side rockets?”

“Right thruster 30% damaged. Left thruster 70% damaged.”

“Tsk, no choice then. Let’s pull back.”

“Confirmed.”

Kainzku’s mission ended here. Ship No. 98 retreated to the rear under escort from other cyborg ships.

—

‘Whew, that was close.’

The enemy ship penetrated my vessel deeper than expected, nearly causing the reactor to explode. When I’m in control, it’s not a problem, but it’s different when I release the Nightmare Horizon.

A ship that has finished being infected becomes irreparably damaged. The reactor also becomes inoperable, so I thought there was nothing to worry about.

But I was mistaken.

When the front of their ship collided, it disturbed the reactor, and we all nearly died. No. 26, the most skilled at controlling psychic power among us, could probably survive by defending against the explosion, but Adhigh Orr and Sky Mother would definitely die instantly.

‘I was in danger too.’

Currently, I’m in the “Clever Weakling” transformation state, one of the special states I can change into with “Organic Evolution.” If I were in my normal state, I would have survived without fatal injuries thanks to thick armor, but not now.

My defense has decreased along with my reduced size.

‘A blessing in disguise.’

We nearly died, but thanks to that reactor explosion, I was able to divert the enemy’s attention.

‘At least we’ve successfully infiltrated.’

While I was thinking about where we could hide, Adhigh Orr poked me with the tip of his wing.

“Great One” “Is it” “You” “Need” “Confirmation”

[Zu? (Huh?)]

He kept tilting his head, apparently finding my transformation very awkward.

Adhigh’s reaction isn’t particularly strange. Even I find my transformation awkward.

The change that happened to me isn’t appropriately described as mutation or transformation. It was literally closer to “evolution.”

First, my overall size has decreased to about 5m including my tail. The tail is about 2m long, and my body extends about 3m.

As my tail shortened, my body shape changed too. The combat arms near my armpits and pelvis moved downward to function as legs.

Simply put, I now have a body shape similar to a centaur from Greek mythology.

Although four combat arms were lost, my combat power hasn’t decreased as much as expected. That’s because the small arms on my chest have grown to be as large as combat arms.

‘Though the shape is a bit different.’

The small arms on my chest—or rather, the now long arms—have noticeably developed muscles and are covered with an outer skin like my combat arms.

They seem too weak to be used defensively like my other arms, but they could easily crush a human skull.

Apart from changes to my body shape and arms, there weren’t major changes to other parts like my six horns, massive head carapace, and pincer at the end of my tail.

The difference is that as my body shrank, the faces created by my humanoid beast characteristic became proportionally larger?

‘No. There’s another enormous change.’

The reason I described it as evolution wasn’t because of the body shape change.

It’s the hair.

Fine, long hairs have sprouted all over my body. Except for the head carapace, every part is covered with dark purple hair. From a distance, I must look like I’m wearing a fur coat.

‘An AMorph with hair.’

In the game, there were traits that gave hair, but none that changed the entire body to this extent.

I wasn’t the only one who found these changes unfamiliar.

“Big baby has become strange.”

“I” “Small Adult” “Agree”

Even No. 26, who always says nice things, commented that I looked strange. This was the first time No. 26, who had watched my evolution process without missing anything, had called me strange.

When I remained silent, No. 26 quickly added:

“But I still like big baby!”

“Horns” “Cool” “Stems” “Strange”

Apparently, my appearance is considered odd by the two aliens’ standards.

When I looked at Sky Mother, the last remaining member, she awkwardly shook her head with her eyes.

“With only your head not covered in hair, you look like a Wendigo.”

[Zuzuzuzuzu zuzu (Not like a centaur?)]

“…More like a Wendigo that grew eight legs.”

Wendigo is one of the phantom beasts that Volf can transform into. I remember it had very powerful strength, but its appearance wasn’t very well-regarded.

‘Hmph. I think I look pretty good.’

Regardless of the negative opinions, there’s one fortunate aspect. This hair isn’t ordinary hair.

When transforming into Clever Weakling, some traits are restricted, but new perks are gained.

As stated, this hair is a new body part created by a powerful perk effect.

“Unknown Creature’s Fur: A perk provided by the ‘Clever Weakling’ trait. The subtle waves created by the movement of the fur give the user a stealth effect that can evade detection equipment, traits, and techniques.

*Note: Some electronic equipment may not be affected by this effect, so be careful.”

“Traits sealed due to ‘Clever Weakling’ state: Bone Axe, Gliding Membrane, Enhanced Large Tail, Infection Tentacles”

‘I see.’

Among the special states of Organic Evolution, if Monster King is the combat mode, Clever Weakling is closer to a survival mode. I’m not sure how powerful the Unknown Creature’s Fur effect is, but considering Monster King, the stealth effect should be considerable.

‘The downside is that some physical abilities are sealed.’

It’s particularly disappointing to lose Infection Tentacles, which was a side effect of Nightmare Horizon and one of my main weapons. The faces created by my humanoid beast trait have taken the place where the infection tentacles would emerge.

‘The reduced combat power is regrettable, but.’

It’s actually an appropriate trait for sneaking onto a ship.

‘I’ll think about that later.’

Right now, we’re inside a cyborg ship. We entered through the gap created when the front section was damaged from ramming the Cult escort ship.

‘Drones will come to repair the damaged section soon.’

We need to hide in a safe place until then.

I placed my auxiliary organs against the ship’s inner wall, just like in my hatchling days.

The heavy sound of the reactor running, the footsteps of androids and cyborgs busily moving through the ship, drones noisily flying around with alerts, and even the smell of rusty metal, synthetic oil, and sweat-soaked flesh.

That sensation of being connected to a living, breathing ship. Even cyborgs directly linked to the ship couldn’t feel it as minutely as I could.

‘I often used this to track enemy movements on the research ship.’

The current performance of my auxiliary organs is incomparably superior to back then.

The cyborg ship, far larger and more complex than the research ship. I instantly read the structure of half the ship.

[Zuzu (This way)]

Having found a safe place, I led everyone there. There were drones and androids on the way, but we weren’t caught.

After avoiding all threats, we arrived at the safest place on this ship.

“The garbage disposal?”

[Zu (Yes)]

“…It certainly is safe.”

There are no surveillance cameras inside the garbage disposal area. Except for one near the entrance.

Although the entrance was right in front of us, I stopped my companions.

[Zuzu zuzuzu zuzu (Wait a moment)]

“Want to test that fur?”

As a fellow ranker, she understands quickly. Before entering, I wanted to experiment with the camera.

‘This should be the blind spot?’

I pressed myself against the wall and moved to where the camera’s field of vision barely reached. Then I extended my tail just enough to be visible to the camera.

‘Unknown Creature’s Fur is supposed to nullify detection equipment.’

Cyborg cameras support various detection systems and guarantee much higher quality than Megacorp surveillance cameras even in normal mode.

So if an android or cyborg sees this, they’ll definitely send surveillance drones.

‘If not…’

I extended my tail several more times to be captured by the camera. However, even as time passed, no drones came.

‘It works.’

I waited more than 10 minutes, but there was no response. I climbed up the wall and adjusted the camera angle.

‘This should do it.’

If we move along the edge of the wall, we won’t be captured by the camera. For ambiguous areas, we can hide behind large cover like the crane that moves garbage before entering the disposal area.

After neutralizing the camera, I finally touched the terminal next to the disposal entrance. This was to find out when garbage is processed periodically.

Checking, I found there was still plenty of time until the next scheduled processing. After completing all checks, I called the others.

[Zuzuzu zuzuzuzu zuzuzu zuzuzu (Go around behind the crane to enter)]

“What’s a crane?”

“Go that way.”

And so we were able to safely jump into the garbage disposal area.

“Wow! So many toys!”

“Amazing”

“Don’t go near the compactor. It’s dangerous.”

No. 26 and Adhigh Orr seemed to like the inside of the garbage disposal area. Sky Mother followed the children, cautioning them not to do anything dangerous.

There’s a very famous SF movie that entered museums long before I was born. In that movie, there’s a scene where the protagonists fall into the enemies’ trap and get locked in a garbage disposal area.

‘Wasn’t it a robot that saved them there?’

While in the movie it was a place where the protagonists faced difficulties, that’s not the case here. This dirty place will be our path forward.